From:	MERC::"uunet!CRVAX.SRI.COM!RELAY-INFO-VAX"  6-MAY-1992 20:45:46.68
To:	info-vax@kl.sri.com
CC:	
Subj:	DECUS SIG Tape Review (VAX: 4GL_SIG through CANADA)

[VAX91B.4GL_SIG]

Ease of installation:	4
Documentation:		3
Ease of use:		4
Usefulness:		4

Intended audience:	Database users
Sources included:	Yes
Objects included:	No

Several new entries from the 4GL SIG are here including: PLOTS - two new
Datatrieve plots to do histogram data as an X-Y plot; NEWSLETTERS - new copies
of the "Wombat Examiner" and "4GL Dispatch" in electronic format; READ_RALLY -
a VAX SCAN program that converts a Rally report into VAX Document input;
and VISITATION - a DCL command procedure which processes an application report
to extract the visitation order of the fields in a form.

There is not much "full" documentation included as the utilities are fairly
self-explanatory.  The newsletters are, I'm sure, full of information to the
database user or administrator.



[VAX91B.ALLIED]

Ease of installation:	4
Documentation:		3
Ease of use:		4
Usefulness:		3

Intended audience:	Programmers
Sources included:	Yes
Objects included:	Yes

This submission includes a command procedure for setting up a DEBUG session on
a separate DECterm window (useful for debugging those system- or
screen-oriented applications), information on creating a DECterm window from
BASIC, an example program using DECforms to trap and "cleanly" display
broadcast messages, and a program to check the status of a locally attached
printer (to the terminal).



[VAX91B.AMBY]

Ease of installation:	2
Documentation:		2
Ease of use:		2
Usefulness:		1

Intended audience:	Managers responsible for new users
Sources included:	Yes
Objects included:	No

Various command procedures and programs to help implement an easy "SYS$LOGIN
environment".

By the time you've gotten a DECUS tape and considered looking at the software
on it, you've probably already customized your own environment to your
satisfaction, although you may find a few new hints or tricks here.  This may
be better suited for novice users who may get started out on the VAX with a
predefined set of LOGIN utilities and programs already placed into their
default directory.



[VAX91B.ANTIVIRUS]

Ease of installation:	Varies
Documentation:		Varies
Ease of use:		Varies
Usefulness:		5

Intended audience:	PC Users / LAN Managers
Sources included:	No
Objects included:	No

A very useful collection of free and/or ShareWare anti-virus programs for the
Macintosh, Amiga, and PC compatibles.

Need I say more?  This collection is *VERY* useful in these trying days of
people trying their best to make the worst of your systems.



[VAX91B.ATG]

Ease of installation:	5
Documentation:		5
Ease of use:		4
Usefulness:		4

Intended audience:	System Managers / Programmers / Users / ?
Sources included:	Yes
Objects included:	No

Here's a nice collection of utilities for VMS programmers including: CRC - fast
CRC generation code (can replace LIB$CRC and be 50%-300% faster); MWAIT -
analyze cause of RWAST and other wait states; PTD - access port name support
for FT devices; XE - "MONITOR ETHERNET" type display of activity on any DEC
compatible Ethernet interface; and many small and useful utilities in C and
DCL.

These routines and utilities are cleanly written and documented and are easy to
use.  The XE program ran without any troubles and produced a nice full-screen
monitor of my Ethernet activity.  There is a program, NICE_PROGRAM, which is an
example of how to call DEC's NML and exchange information with the NICE
protocol.  Unfortunately, it attempts to include NMADEF.H which doesn't seem to
be on my system (I have seen it floating around, though).  Overall, a
collection worth looking at.



[VAX91B.BZL]

Ease of installation:	4
Documentation:		5
Ease of use:		4
Usefulness:		4

Intended audience:	Various (see description)
Sources included:	Yes
Objects included:	No

Some fairly useful utilities including: RDB_TO_RTF - documents an RDB database
producing an RTF (Rich Text Format) file readable by many PC and Macintosh word
processing programs; TRIM - manipulate text files easily; NETWORK -
periodically obtain the network counters and store them in an RDB database; and
some examples of DCL lexical functions (F$GETDVI, F$FILE_ATTRIBUTES, and
others) and using the SMG$ routines in C.



[VAX91B.CANADA]

Ease of installation:	Varies
Documentation:		Varies
Ease of use:		3
Usefulness:		3

Intended audience:	Everyone
Sources included:	Yes
Objects included:	For some parts

These submissions are from DECUS Canada: AKCOUNT - VAX/VMS V4.x ACCOUNTING
SOFTWARE (with mods for V5.x); HP_CALC - full-functioned scientific calculator
for VWS; QWATCH - utility to monitor a process' quotas; ADAM - Assistant for
Definition And Modification, an extension for EVE; SNAP - very fancy SHOW
USERS with commands available during monitoring; and many, many others.